


Imaginary Friend

by culieskye



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Depression, Dipper and Mabel save the world, Most likely something, Other, Plot, Suicide Attempt, Tags, or something
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-14 04:03:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5728867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/culieskye/pseuds/culieskye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mabel Pines is an only child, with a rich girlfriend and an intense fear of the local tourist trap, The Mystery Shack. She lived in Gravity Falls ever since her parents passed away two years ago. But moving to Gravity Falls only gave her headaches, nightmares, and for some reason the voice of her old imaginary friend, Dipper. </p><p>Unable to battle the hold of Gravity Falls and her depression, Mabel makes a decision that changes everything...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Infection

**Author's Note:**

> This will have a WEIRD posting schedule. I'm moving. Which is why I ended Endless Summer early, but this site has given me something to do that isn't being overwhelmed with my cross country move. So... here goes.
> 
> If you like it, please kudos and comment. If not... do it anyway? Also... short chapters. Like 3-7 pages are the range for this fic. Js. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!! <3

“So how do we do it?” she asked her ceiling. The wind howled outside her window, her room was dim and she couldn’t find the energy to get up. Energy. She remembered once she was filled with so much of it that she could bounce around and talk for days.

And sometimes… sometimes she had those days. Good days. The days where she would get up. Talk to people. Clean her small apartment and eat food.

Eating. When was the last meal she had? Yesterday at noon. Thirteen hours ago.

_“I’m gaining weight!” she smiled at her best friend._

_“That’s great!” the blonde cheered, “Next thing you know, you’ll be wearing mediums that fit!”_

Pacifica tried. Pacifica was always cooking, inviting her out to dinner. When Pacifica asked her on a date, Mabel went with it. Why not?

She was going to die anyway. Might as well just go with it.

But then she had gotten happier. Didn’t think of suicide anymore. She actually ate more than once a day… it  was weird. Being normal.

And then it was like a wave. Not a storm, that’s too dramatic. It was a wave of complete apathy. There was literally nothing for Mabel to live for. Not her new internship, not her animals, not her family, not Pacifica, just… nothing. And she had no one.

That wasn’t right. She had people. People who loved her. But… it felt… empty. It felt like the world just didn’t give a flying shit about her. She was the most insignificant thing, she wasn’t made to live life. Not like this. This wasn’t right.

Her cracked phone sat next to her and she dared it to ring. It didn’t. The last time she decided to do it, the lights flickered and Grenda called about homework help, but ended up saving Mabel’s life. Temporarily.

But this time, Mabel was ready.

She sat up and let the dehydration settle, before she dragged herself from bed. _A shower…_ the small fighting voice seemed to whisper over her shoulder… _Try and see if a shower won’t make you better._

It wouldn’t. The voice was of Dipper Pines, her imaginary twin. Mabel was an only child, but when her parents started fighting and she literally had no friends or family, she created her own sibling. A twin, that could read her mind and protect and love her. He was identical to her, so that way in rooms with mirrors, she could actually see him. And as she got older… he started to fade away. Her mind replaced him with nightmares of murder and… she shook that thought away. Drinking had stopped those nightmares, even if it ruined her young liver.

But Mabel hated fighting the voice. It just gave her a headache. She dug through her drawer and grabbed a random assortment of clothes and ducked into the tiniest bathroom anyone had ever built ever. She turned on the hot water, throwing her clothes onto the toilet seat. What had she picked to die in? An old green sweater, black leggings, and a pair of underwear that had cartoon pigs all over it. She had picked them out before the wave.

She undressed, throwing her dirty clothes on the ground, why be tidy? She was dying today.

 _No. You aren’t._ the fighting voice argued.

“If you want to live so bad,” she snapped, “Why don’t you get your own body?” she poured shampoo into her palms and rubbed her scalp. She didn’t need that much shampoo, she had chopped all her hair off after…

_Please…_

“Just fuck off.” She rinsed her hair. A shower did not make her feel better. Well, she was angry. Angry was a feeling. She knew this cycle. Apathy. Angry. Apathy. Happy. Overwhelming Sadness.

She just had to take her stash before the happy phase. That wouldn’t be hard. She had been fighting the damn cycle since she discovered it’s patterns. Pushing away her friends, gathering the courage to buy the pills, gathering the courage to take them.

She had had them for six months. Buying them at different stores, hiding them from her friends. Mostly Pacifica, who had been overly clingy for the past few weeks. But Mabel was trying to explain to her that she wanted to break up. Not that Pacifica heard the words “break.” Or “up.” All she heard was a problem she could fix. But this was not a problem, Mabel’s ‘girlfriend’ could fix.

This was a problem Mabel had to fix.

She was staring at her fish tank. Little African dwarf frogs hopping in the water that she hadn’t changed in months. Two months. But they all looked happy. She envied them as she dropped a pinch full of bloodworms into the tank and then a vacation feeder. She debated dropping two. But when Mabel wouldn’t answer her phone, Pacifica would come over and that would be tonight. The latest, tomorrow.

_“Mabel, why don’t you move in?” Pacifica was leaning on Mabel’s arm. Mabel shrugged,_

_“I like my apartment.”_

_“It’s small.”_

_“It’s cheap.”_

_“I can buy the Mystery Shack-,”_

_“Don’t worry about it. It’s… I can’t go there. I have to go home, Paz.”_

_“No, Mabel, please, I’m sorry-,”_

_“Goodnight.” She kissed the girl’s forehead and squirmed out of her hold, driving in her car. Apathetic. Remain apathetic. Go home and drink what little wine we have left and open the bottle of jack. Apathetic. Apathetic._

Mabel was holding the sandwich bag of mixed pills. She placed it on the kitchen counter and grabbed her bottle of jack, pouring it into her only wine glass. She took a sip and winced. God, it was terrible.

She started to crush the pills into a fine dust with her rolling pin. Once she was satisfied, she dumped the contents into the glass and watched the poison dissolve. How long would it take? Would it hurt? Her hands trembled. She shook her head, she’d be damned if she’d chicken out now. This was it. This was her escape. She picked up the glass and downed the beverage. She dropped the glass with a shudder,

“UGH!” she managed, backing onto her futon, “Terrible.” She was shaking. She couldn’t stop shaking. She closed her eyes and saw him. She reached out for him, but his eyes shot open and black slits against yellow smiled back at her, he was covered in blood and she screamed.

The last memory she wanted was not this. Was not this. Was not… this…

Someone was grabbing her hand. She could hear them screaming at her, she opened her eyes to tell them to fuck off and saw her reflection. But younger, transparent, and with that stupid baseball cap she kept by her nightstand. She knew this reflection of hers, she groaned,

“That’s… mine.” She glared at the transparent reflection, “Steal it and I call the cops.”

The reflection laughed, “Mabel, you call the cops and they’ll bring you to the hospital. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of this.” He waved at her dying body.

“That’s my hat.” She spat.

“Then let’s make a deal-,” He took the hat off, “You keep the hat, and I’ll help you with this.” He gestured to her.

She nodded, taking his hand. Blue flames shot out and gripped her wrist and she screamed, trying to back away from him,

“NO! NO!” she was screaming. The reflection backed away trying to explain, but she wouldn’t listen to his lies, “GET OUT!” she was yelling, tears pulling at her eyes, “I… I ran away from you. You’re dead. You’re...” her memories were drowning her now as she looked into the brown eyes across the room.

And that’s when everything went black.


	2. Infection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looking for answers, Mabel goes looking for someone who can answer all of her new questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI!!!!!!  
> Sooooo, I made it to my move in Florida. I'm settled in and READY TO WRITE SOME FANFICTION!!!!!!  
> These will be weekly posts, I'll try my best to keep chapters coming once a week.  
> Thanks so much for reading, if you like it don't forget to kudos (and comments make me happy too) and stay perfect!!!! <3

Mabel woke up on her futon. The aquarium light was on, and she turned away from it, rolling over. She buried her face into the black cushion. Why did she feel so terrible, she didn't exercise, she...

Suicide. She was supposed to be dead. She sat up, taking in her apartment. What the actual fuck?

The blue baseball cap was on her kitchen counter and it hit her; Dipper was here.

"D-Dipper?" she asked the empty room. It felt stupid, probably looked stupid too. The sandwich bag was on the counter, empty. Her only wine glass was shattered all over her  counter and floor. She stood up, waltzing around the glass shards that littered her floor. She reached for the jack and took a swig, it was her coffee. Her morning inspiration and motivation.

She grabbed the broom and swept up the glass, stepping on a few shards. She finished cleaning and cleaned her now bleeding foot. Next time she'd kill herself with a red solo cup. Being "classy" was just a pain if it didn't work.

Why didn't it work?

It's not like she was in a hospital with glaring white walls and flickering fluorescent lights, she was home. In her small, dark apartment. She flicked off the aquarium light, now it was dark.

She wasn't apathetic. Or angry. Or happy. Or sad. She was... Confused? Was confused even an emotion? She was out of her cycle... And she wasn't quite sure how she felt about it.

She saw Dipper. She put on the stupid cap, it was snug on her head and she took a deep breath, throwing on knitted scarf, she knew if anyone had any answers, it would be her uncle.

The drive to the Mystery Shack wasn't as nostalgic as she hoped it would be. The trees looked the same everywhere in Gravity Falls. Just tall, brown, and green. Just pine trees.

She sighed and turned on her music, her mixed CD of Thieves Like Us and PlayRadioPlay calmed her trembling hands as she got closer and closer to her old home. She parked the car, and her fingers lingered on her keys. She didn't need answers, did she? She could go home. She could try again. She'd have to buy all those damn pills again. What a waste of money... But what was money to a dead person?

But then she saw him. He was wearing that black suit and the red ribbon of a bow tie. His hair was slicked back underneath his red fez. He was waving at a crowd of tourists leaving the shack. He looked at her car, and she looked into his brown eyes. Normal.

She turned off the ignition. Stepping out of the car slowly, she shut the blue door of her Toyota Corolla as she stood in a puddle of mud.

Her discount Toms were already over worn, the new splatters of mud were only encouragement to buy new shoes. But why buy shoes when you plan on ending your life? She would get her answers, she would figure out why she was still alive, and once she got rid of whatever was holding her back, she'd finish what she started.

"Mabel?" her Great Uncle Stan walked off the porch with a small smile, they both knew why she didn't come around anymore.

"Hi, Grunkle Stan." she walked towards him. Would he want to hug her? Could she even handle that? Thankfully, he didn't. He patted her arm and looked at her for a second. Both of them were checking the others eyes.

"How've you been?" he finally asked.

_Apathetic. Depressed. Lonely. Broken. Plague-ish. Quarantined. I should be dead._

"Alright." she lied, forcing herself to smile. It was a polite smile she had perfected to get Pacifica to stop worrying about her, "How are you? And Grunkle Ford?" Small talk. It was a skill she had perfected with Pacifica's family. The masters of small talk and judgement. She avoided dinners with them as much as possible. Holidays were always unbearable.

"The shack is still running." he looked back at the place. She turned her gaze her old home. It was still falling apart, but it always had been. It was one of it's quirks. But now it was creepy. The triangular attic window seemed to look down at her, she tore her gaze from it,

"And Ford?"

"Nerd stuff." he said. That meant exploring the forest. Documenting. Continuing his research despite what happened years ago. His method of dealing. His therapy.

"Come by for a tour of the old place?" he asked.

_I came by to see why I'm still alive._

"I just..." she couldn't think of a lie to tell. She sighed. Telling people you're suicidal and confidently trying to kill yourself, throws them into a frenzy. She hadn't talked to her Grunkle in years, telling him she was suicidal would only give the old man a heart attack.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a hug. "I missed you too, Kiddo. It's lonely without you and your brother." The hug was tighter at the mention of her brother. She hugged him back... brother?

"Dipper?" she asked.

He broke away from the hug, his hands still gently gripping her shoulders, "I-,"

"Dipper is imaginary." she awkwardly joked with the old man, "You don't have to pretend for me anymore. I'm not twelve anymore, I'm 22."

"You don't believe that or you wouldn't be at my door." He let her go and walked inside. She followed him because he was right.

The shack was just as she remembered, but there was an empty spot on the shelves where the baseball caps used to be. She touched hers, feeling the fraying threads striving to leave their hem.

"Couldn't take it anymore." Stan said softly, "It was too hard. Just... Stopped selling them."

She looked away and noticed there was a new rug on the floor; it was faded green. "I like it."

"Burned the other one." he said.

Grenda was sitting at the register, reading a magazine about boys. Some people never changed. Envy pierced her chest, she shushed the emotion. She was getting emotions now- she wondered where the hell her apathy was. Her numbness was thawing away and it scared her.

Fear. It was an emotion she never wanted to feel again. She regretted not packing a full flask in her sweater. She took a deep breath. Grenda looked up and smiled,

"Hey! Never thought I'd ever see you here!"

"You can take the rest of the day off." Stan replied, "Shack is closed for the rest of the day."

"Cool, Mr. Pines." she grabbed her magazine, stuffing it into her Duck-Tective purse. Mabel knew Grenda was only doing this as a summer job in between semesters, just like Wendy did. Wendy was a college graduate now, living in Seattle. She came back into town sometimes, but Mabel never tried to talk to her.

"Call me!" Grenda mouthed and headed out the door. The door screeched to a close and Mabel faced her uncle,

"Who is he? Who is Dipper, really?"

"You've seen him?" Stan asked. He raised his eyebrows. Mabel didn't know if seeing her old imaginary, not really, brother was good or bad.

"Had... A dream." she lied.

"Are you in danger?" he asked.

"I'm not allowed to remember my brother?" she snapped, then froze, "Is he... I actually had a brother?"

"A twin-,"

"I made him up, Grunkle Stan. I was lonely and I made him up..."

"So why come out here over a dream about your imaginary friend? You used to be such a better liar, Mabel." he walked past the employee only sign, and Mabel, frustrated, followed.

"You drink coffee?" he asked.

"I'm good."

"Pacifica has been inquiring about buying the shack-,"

"I told her not to." Mabel said flatly. Maybe if her suicide was successful, Pacifica would finally leave this place alone.

"She's offering me a very large amount of money... And I'm tired." he sat at the kitchen table. She sat down across from him,

"Other tour guides?" she managed. Her stomach was in knots. Why was she so nervous to talk to her uncle? Just being in the shack just gave her butterflies. Not the good kind either. The man eating kind that made her want to throw up.

"I can't..." he sighed, "Mabel-," he couldn't find the words he needed to tell her, so he pulled a picture out of his inside pocket,  and handed it to her. Mabel took it, thankful her hand wasn't trembling. She was staring at her twelve year old self. Braces. Glitter. Fluffy llama sweater. Huge wide smile. When was the last time she smiled like that? The person next to her was what made her drop the picture.

_Dipper._

Curly brown hair only partially covered his lunar birthmark and got in his brown eyes. He was smiling too, his baseball cap casting a shadow over his face.

"How-,"

"Mabel, I think it's time you learn the truth about Dipper Pines."

 


	3. Denial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty. Here we go. A nice early post to kick our day into gear.   
> I'll be working on the next chapter throughout the week, I get hour lunches now. So... WRITING!
> 
> Thank you SO much for reading! I appreciate you so much! Don't forget to kudos and comment! Much love!!!!! <3

Dipper laid down in his twin sized bed, a single blue fleece blanket hanging off the side touching the wooden floors of his attic bedroom. He looked over at sleeping Mabel, wrapped her pink fleece blanket. Pink and blue, a theme that followed them since birth. Their parents always said that it was their dream to have a boy and a girl, and having them both at once meant no more kids.

 

But Dipper overheard them talking about trying for one more. He didn't tell Mabel. But really, why else would their parents send them away for an entire summer with an uncle they barely knew in the middle of nowhere? Adventure? Summer jobs? They were twelve!

 

He grabbed the red journal from his nightstand and studied the images. They were so weird, but real, and that intrigued him. Sure, his parents made a terrible decision that sent him and sister to a tourist trap for the entire summer, but the journal gave him some sort of purpose. A boring retail job was not going to cut it for "great summers".

 

But so far, he and Mabel had done so much together. They fought gnomes, golf balls, uncovered government secrets, and fallen in love. Dipper had his heart on Wendy, the red head cashier who was the coolest girl he knew. Not that he could ever tell Mabel that.

 

Mabel, on the other hand, had fallen in love more than once. There was the guy with the turtle, the gnomes (when they were pretending to be human... It was a weird day), Gideon (he was a creep...), Mermando (he was a mermaid...) Puppet Guy Gabe (that was a very hard day on everyone involved), and her loyal friend and pig- Waddles.

 

Dipper flipped the pages as it landed on Bill Cipher's page. Bill was an enemy he absolutely hated and did not like dealing with. "Do not summon at all costs!"? How about "Do not make any deals at any cost!"? Because once Bill was summoned there was literally no way to get rid of him. He should know. He had been dealing with the yellow triangle ever since he made that terrible deal with him during Mabel's sock opera.

A very hard day.... For everyone involved.

 

He closed the book and got out of bed, it was early. But he kept having nightmares about Bill, nightmares that he didn't like to talk about. Not even with Mabel.

 

He headed downstairs and wondered if an early walk in the woods would help. It was a habit he had formed, walking around the shack, never too far. He always kept the shack in his sight. A teenage boy with PTSD wondering alone deep into the forest sounded like one of those weird fanfictions that Mabel wrote and read aloud despite Dipper’s complaints.

 

He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. When he didn’t see anything and he just listened, he felt normal. He opened his eyes and saw eyes in the wooden wall of the shack, and sighed,

 

“Not real.” He rubbed his sweaty hands on his knees and calmed himself down, “That’s not real.”

 

This had become a problem. And he knew it had. How would he deal with this when he went home? How would he try and pretend he was fine if he was seeing eyes and triangles where there was nothing?

 

“Good question, Kid.” He heard a familiar voice from behind him. He closed his eyes,

 

“Not real…”

 

“That’s cute, Kid.” Bill was sitting next to him now, “So, listen. There was a mistake that happened earlier. I possessed you and then left you, but I left a piece of me behind. You’re probably having nightmares. You’re covered in blood. Blood everywhere sort of thing? People asking, demanding that you help them?”

 

“Leave me alone.” Dipper managed his whisper. What if Bill wasn’t real? What if Bill was him hallucinating again?

 

“Listen, I can do that. All you have to do-,”

 

“I’m not doing anything.”

 

“You’re becoming a demon, Pine Tree. You like it or not. You’re becoming dream demon because I left some stuff behind on accident. You let me in your body, I take it out, and I leave.”

 

“How can I believe you?” Dipper snapped.

 

“Because you’re dying.”

 

“Well, we all die.” He snapped at the dream demon.

 

“No, you are actually dying. Your body is decaying around the demonic energy-,”

 

“You’re not real.” Dipper stood up and walked away. Bill followed him, continuing to talk over his shoulder,

 

“It’s called a bridge. Or it’s not called that. But it’s kind of like that, a bridge. You’re nightmares and visions and hallucinations are all because you’re linked to the mindscape, my dimension. The mindscape is destroying your mortal body-,”

 

“And what does that have to do with you? Why are you trying to save me, Bill?” Dipper suddenly stopped walking to face the floating triangle of his nightmares, “Why does this matter to you?”

 

Bill hesitated, staring at the young human, this kid had more spunk than Sixer ever did. He was smarter, more curious, and more intolerant. Bill could lie, but looking into Pine Tree’s glaring brown eyes, he sighed,

 

“Because I’m dying too. My demonic energy is in you. It’s changing you into a demon and it’s changing me.”

 

“Into a human?” Dipper asked.

 

“Into something.” Bill shrugged, “I don’t know. That’s why I want my energy back. I jump in, take the link out of you and-,”

 

“I’m not letting you in me.”

 

“I’ll make the deal last no more than 24 hours-,”

 

“No.”

 

Bill turned red, and Dipper walked away, only angering the demon more. But if Dipper was understanding correctly Bill wasn’t nearly as powerful as he used to be. If that meant he had to die… well, he might as well spend that time with the only person who matter to him: Mabel.

 

He laid back down in his bed, staring at the ceiling. How many more mornings would he wake up?

 

“Hey, Dip-Dop!” He heard his sister’s chirpy, hyper voice as she pulled herself from her sheets. He looked over at her and smiled,

 

“Hey! Wanna’ do something today?” _I’m going to die soon. I want to spend all of my time with you._ He wanted to tell her. But worrying his sister wasn’t what he wanted.

 

“Sure!” she jumped up, running to their make shift closet, changing behind the curtains, “Something in your journal caught your attention?” she asked.

 

“Oh, I, uh-,” he sat back up and looked at the journal, “I thought… maybe, some normal stuff today?”

 

She poked her head out from the curtains, “Normal?”

 

“Yeah…” he thought about it, “Is there even anything normal in Gravity Falls?”

 

She shook her head, ducking back into the closet, “Probably not. I say we should try to find a new species! We could go past the gems-,”

 

“Gnomes are still kind of mad at us right now…”

 

“Then we can do unicorns?”

 

“Last time you were down there, you picked a fight with them. All of them.”

 

“I won.” She said smugly, coming back out of the closet. She was wearing her pink sweater with the shooting star across it. He sighed, fighting the urge to tell her to put something else on. Anything, but that sweater, the sweater Bill knew her by.

 

“You running out of sweaters or something?” he asked throwing his journal into his backpack.

 

“I figure if I wear it, I’ll get over my fear of him.” She whispered, before exclaiming, “Anyways, it’s cute!”

 

Dipper felt like an idiot. Of course he wasn’t the only one scared of Bill. Wasn’t Ford still jumpy thirty years later? Why he had assumed that Mabel wouldn’t be affected by the dream deamon- dying would leave her alone.

 

He couldn’t do that.

 

“Mabel, I need to tell you something.” He said, she stopped at the door, her messy brown curls desperately needing to be brushed. She wanted short hair, but Mom would always say no. She’d never be able to tell them apart. That wasn’t true; no one would ever catch Dipper in a bright pink sweater in the middle of the summer.

 

“What’s up, Dip-Dop?”

 

“I-I saw Bill. This morning.”

 

“On your walk?” she crossed the room and sat on his bed. He stared at her and she held his hand, “I’m not stupid, Dipper. I hear you get up every morning.”

 

He nodded, “Y-yeah, on my walk. I… he told me I was dying.”

 

“Is he trying to scare you?”

 

“I-I don’t know. He said I had a link in me that connects me to his dimension, to the Dreamscape.”

 

“How do we get rid of it? Is it in the journal?”

 

Dipper shook his head, “I don’t know. He said he had to possess me to-,”

 

“No.”

 

“That’s what I said. So… I don’t know.”

 

Mabel stood up, “It’s Bill. He’s just messing with our heads.” She sounded way more confident than he thought she would, “C’mon. You got me up for adventure. And we’re off the clock today!”

 

He nodded, jumping up. It was all probably nothing. She was right. And when they came home, he would tell Ford. Ford knew everything, he could fix it. Dipper knew he could.


	4. Antidote

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiyah everyone!!!!!  
> I'm so glad you're reading and I've been so happy to read your comments and kudos! I'm trying to keep uploading over the weekend. It's just... a little hard because I work as a DCP (Disney College Programer) right now and I've got a bunch original work I'm supposed to be doing. But I will not let this fall to the side, if only because I absolutely love writing for you guys :3
> 
> So I'll post again next weekend, probably Saturday or Sunday, and I know on Valentine's Day I'm posting my special project. But until thanks for being perfect and adorable. I love you!!! <3 <3 <3

Mabel had been watching her twin brother cling to his journal, that was nothing new. Dipper was fascinated with that stupid, weird journal. But this time his face was flushed, his eyes wide as if he was in a constant state of panic. 

“Dip-Dop!” she tried to distract him, “Maybe we could head home. Adventure like normal kids, in a playground or-,” 

He winced in pain and she had a feeling it wasn’t because he was physically pained by the word ‘playground’. She rushed to his side and grabbed his arm,

“Hey, Dipper, are you okay?”

He looked at her, and for a moment he had his lying face. Like he was going to say yes, like the time he broke his arm and tried to hide it from their parents. But he couldn’t lie to Mabel. And she couldn’t lie to them. They were twins. Mystery twins. They completed each other.

He finally shook his head, “No, Mabes, I…. I saw Bill.”

“Did he hurt you?” she asked, her grip tighter on her brother. He moved his head awkwardly as if he were in between a yes and no, “Well?” she pressured.

“He didn’t do it on purpose.” he started. Mabel would have rolled her eyes if she wasn’t so concerned for her brother. He gulped, “He… he left a bridge inside of me, he said. It links to the mindscape and is turning me into a demon, like him.”

“We have to tell Ford.” Mabel didn’t give Dipper a choice. He only seemed to agree and she helped him back to the Mystery Shack. 

The walk was quiet. Mabel wondered what her brother was thinking, but worse she wondered what they would do if Ford couldn’t fix this. What would happen if Dipper became like Bill.

Would Dipper become evil? Would he leave her alone here forever? 

No. Not her Dipper. Dipper wouldn’t go crazy, he was better than that. He was her brother. She opened the front door, avoiding the shop, and she sat him on the couch.

“I’ll be right back, okay?” she told him. He nodded and she headed into the shop, greeting guests, or as Stan called them, talking-wallets as she walked by. Ford was leaning on the counter, waiting for the crowd to clear so he could head into his lair of nerd and broken portal shards.

She tugged on his sleeve, “Grunkle Ford?” 

He looked down, “Yes, Mabel?”

“Can you come see?” she didn’t give him time to answer, she started to pull at him. He followed, he wasn’t doing anything anyway. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked. 

“It’s Dipper.” she said quietly. 

“Hmmm?” he asked her to repeat herself. She didn’t answer again. She didn’t think she could. No, she knew she couldn’t. She brought him into the living room and she took a deep breath,

“D-Dipper is…. he’s turning into a dream demon. Like Bill.” the words fell out of her mouth, stumbling over the other, hoping if they were out faster they wouldn’t hurt as much.

But what hurt worse was the way the look of defeat was already spread over Ford’s face.

“You can fix it, right? You can fix this?” she asked.

“There’s nothing I can do here.” Ford whispered, “Did… Bill tell you this was going to happen?”

Dipper shook his head, “Not until this morning.”

Alarm sparked Ford’s face, “This morning? You saw him this morning?”

“He doesn’t want anything but to possess me.” Dipper said with a shaky sigh, “He said I was going to die a painful death-,” he stopped and made eye contact with his sister. Tears stung her eyes and she forced a smile on her face for him,

“Pssshhhhh!” she said, trying to blink away the traitorous tears, “We’ll fix this, Dip-Dop! You know that journal should have something in it-,”

“Mabel, I wrote those journals. I know for a fact-,”

“I don’t care!” she yelled at him, “I don’t care what you know! My brother is dying! If you can’t fix him, then we don’t need you!” She shoved him. He fell back a step and Dipper reached out for her,

“Mabel-,”

But she just stood there. She glared at her Grunkle and he looked away, his heart broken just like hers. But she didn’t care, she was angry and she knew her anger should be taken out on Bill, but Ford was the next best thing. For now.

Ford turned away and left them there. Mabel felt the tears running down her face and she faced her brother, his eyes weren’t matching with hers anymore. They were glowing a light blue. She shook her head,

“I love you, Dip-Dop.”

“It hurts, Mabel.” 

“It hurts Mabel.” a mocking voice said behind her. She turned around, standing defensivly in front of Dipper. Bill sighed,

“I said so. I said you were going to die.”

“You did this.” Mabel snarled.

“Shooting Star, I didn’t see you reacting this way, listen I’ll cut you a deal-,” 

“I’ll cut you a deal.” Dipper was standing up now. He walked confidently and strongly towards Bill, who now seemed to regret his decision of stopping by to watch Dipper die. 

“Dipper?” Mabel asked, but he didn’t seem to hear her as he stood in front of Bill, a twisted, crooked grin breaking his face. This wasn’t Dipper… this wasn’t her twin.

“Pine Tree…” Bill asked, just as concerned as Mabel.

“Alcore.” Dipper corrected with a smile, “I know, it’s so much  _ scarier _ . You didn’t tell em I’d be stronger than you. All of this knowledge. Time and space! All of it, right here.” he tapped his head. 

This wasn’t her Dipper.

“So, Bill, let’s make a deal, huh? You leave. You leave my little Mizar alone and I won’t obliterate you where you stand.” Dipper’s body dropped, going limp and Mabel screamed as she fell to catch him, cradling his dead body. 

Bill looked at Mabel and back to Dipper, and tipped his hat, “Consider it done.” and he was gone.

Alcore laughed as he turned around and stopped at the crying mortal girl in front of him.

“Mizar, what’s wrong with you?” he asked. 

“Mabel. My name is Mabel. You… you used to be Dipper. My brother.” she managed through her sobs. Alcore was still her reflection. He had a mortal form, he liked it. He was surrounded by a light blue aura. He sat next to Mabel,

“I’m sorry, Mizar.”

“Stop calling me that.” she hissed.

They sat there in silence over the dead body of the twelve year old. Finally Alcore stood up with a sigh. 

“I love you, Mabel.” he said quietly. She looked up with tear stained cheeks, 

“Dipper?” 

He touched her forehead and she tried to pull away when she realized what was happening, but it was too late. Her brown eyes screamed betrayal. Finally he stepped away and she fell to the ground.

“MABEL!” Stan yelled in the doorway, “What did you do to my kids?”

“St-Stan. Grunkle Stan, right?” Alcore turned to face him. Stan stumbled backwards, 

“Dipper?”

“Alcore. I’ve got things to do. Crazy how busy dream demons are. So many voices screaming in my head for something stupid. So many people,” his eye twitched. He took a deep breath, “When she wakes up she won’t remember me. Not like the way I am now and not the way I was. I’ll fix Mom and Dad. I’ll fix…” he stepped towards Stan, who stepped back,

“I won’t tell her.”

Alcore shook his head, “You will. That’s the thing. I know everything now. And you’ll tell her. You’ll think you have to. I want you to know, it’s best if you never see me again.” He snapped, turning Dipper’s dead body to dust. 

“I hope you never see me again.” And like that Alcore was gone. Stan shakily sank to the ground, his back leaning against the wall as he sobbed over the loss of everything he knew it just a matter of seconds.

………………

 

Mabel pushed the picture towards Stan, tears burning her eyes. She could remember it, bits and pieces. The adventures. The woods. The way he always supported her. The way she loved him more than she loved anything else in this world.

  
Ford stood in the doorway, catching the last bit of the story, “But the problem is, you’re the only one who can stop him.” 


	5. Cure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel makes a decision that could change the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... super short chapter is super short. 
> 
> Also: HAPPY [early] VALENTINES DAY.
> 
> Js.

****

“Stop him?” Mabel asked, this was the most emotion she had felt in what seemed like years. It was exhausting. She preferred the emotional numbness of her life before. She took a deep breath, this was an adventure, and she didn’t come back for adventure, or to save the world, or to help her dead brother; she came to get answers. She came to finish what she started.

            “Alcore wants to get a physical form and taken over this dimension-,”

            “So, like Bill. Do you know who stopped Bill last time?” Mabel stood up, “Dipper did, and look what happened. He died. And it’s a cycle that I don’t want to be a part of.”

            “Please, Mizar-,” Ford said. Mabel froze. The world slowed to stop, color fading into shades of gray, “That’s hurtful. I’ve done well by you, haven’t I?” she slowly turned and stared at the transparent version of her brother.

            “Dipper?” she asked slowly.

            “You kept calling me that. I like it sometimes.” He sat on the table, still in the shape of a twelve year old.

            “What do they mean, I’m the only one who can stop you? Are you trying to do weirdmageddon? Again?” she asked.

            He shrugged, “That was Bill. I’m not asking for Weirdmageddon, I don’t steal ideas. But I haven’t come up with a witty one yet. Oddpacolypse? I like that one.” He swung his feet lightly, “And Mizar, I’d want to rule with you.”

            “I don’t want the end of the world, Dipper. We fought against all of this.”

            “The cycle. Apathy, anger, happy, sad. It’s because you’ve got what I’ve got. It was such a smaller dosage. From the summer bubble, Bill messed you up to. I tried to make sure you were comfortable. I’d tried to help you out…”

            “Wh-what?”

            “But it didn’t destroy your physical form, it destroyed your mindscape. And I can fix it. I can end it.” He offered his hand, already ablaze with a deal, “But I had to talk to you first, but your suicide through me for a loop. Didn’t see it coming, honestly. But-,”

            “What’s the deal; don’t lead me on.” Mabel crossed her arms, “What do you want?”

            “You want to die.” Alcore stood up and walked towards her, “I want my sister. Summer forever, it would never end. You and me in Gravity Falls forever.” He reoffered his hand. She wanted to die. She shook his hand and screamed, fire shot up her veins as she was ripped from her physical body. The world was spinning and colors filled in the gray. Her grunkles yelled, screamed her name.

            But she wasn’t Mabel, not anymore. She wasn’t depressed, or confused, or emotionally numb. She was powerful. She was-

            “Mizar.” Alcore smiled at her. She smiled back, she drowned in her old favorite pink sweater with the shooting star stitched across it, her short skirt reaching above her knobby knees.

            “Alcore.” They held each other’s hands and she smiled. This… this felt right. She finally felt… normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want more Mizar and Alcore, and want me to develop the evil team of evil, let me know. And I'll do that.   
> I'm mixing up AUs, and I know that. And I'm sorry, but I can't color in the lines. Sooooo... :3 
> 
> But <3 you and thanks for reading, as always. 
> 
> {I'm also opening up to prompts. If you follow me @shiloskye on Tumblr and send me written prompts/fanart and I'd love to do shorts on them. <3}


	6. Relapse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alcore and Mizar start to make big plans, while others are falling into places they probably shouldn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. I know I've been gone for A LOT longer than I expected to be. Actual work built up, my original writing wasn't making sense, and then of course the Gravity Falls finale.
> 
> But I'm back now, hopefully. I've got some stuff planned. A lot of my special projects for other fanfics have been pushed aside. Focusing on one thing at a time. 
> 
> But if you're still here, and still reading, despite my disappearance: Thanks. You're perfect. <3

 

            She sat on her futon couch back at her apartment. Her brown, frizzy curls were pushed back by a cloth headband, something she hadn't worn in years. The aquarium light was on, and her frogs were jumping from rock to filter, trying to catch the floating flakes she had just dropped in.

            She leaned back, her sweater drowned her small arms, and her skirt showed off her knobby, splotchy red knees. She was young again; or more she was who she was before the dark slug of depression seeped in, weighing down her body with it’s gunk and slime.

            But that was Mabel. Mabel who had tried to die and was saved, for no damn reason. She shook that thought away, that wasn’t who she was anymore. She didn’t need to get angry about things that didn’t go her way.

She was Mizar now.

 

            The best part about being Mizar was definitely not the form she had taken, she, in fact, was trying to figure out how to be an adult again, but it was the way she felt.

            She felt normal. She felt right.

            Maybe the only time she felt normal was when she was a child, had she felt off all these years? She had witnessed her own brother’s death, and forced to forget, but that was entire piece of her life gone.

            A knock on the door didn’t scare her, she looked up slowly as Alcore leaned against her front door.

            “How long have you been there?” she asked.

            He shrugged, “Long enough to know that you like those frogs.”

            “They’re carefree. I should clean their water.”

            “Why, you’re a dream demon now.” He sat next to her, when they were together the pair felt invincible. Strength surged through her… were they still veins? “Frogs aren’t really a big part of our responsibilities-,”

            “Neither was I , yet here you are.” She interrupted him.

            “Listen, I know you’re getting used to this-,”

            “We look like a couple of kids-,”

            “All powerful kids-,” he defended their forms.

            “I grew up, Alcore. I grew up humanly. Slowly. I outgrew this, it’s weird.”

            “But you feel right.”

            “That’s beside the point.” She leaned on his shoulder, and he leaned his cheek on the top of her head,

            “I know it’s weird. Your human form is still dying. But we can still start to take what we want. We’ll start slow. Gravity Falls first, and then after that- the world. The universe. WE’ll do what no demon has done before, because we have each other.”

            “What are we going to do after that?” Mizar asked. He shrugged,

            “I’m sure something will come up.”

            “Alright.” She said, pulling herself up, “Let’s get started.” He jumped up and offered his hand, she took it, with a final glance at her carefree African Dwarf Frogs, they vanished into the mindscape to create a plan.

           

 

............................................................

 

            Pacifica pulled into her girlfriend’s drive way, annoyed that Mabel Pines had ignored every single phone call, text message, instant message, DM, PM, and Email. EMAIL! Pacifica didn’t remember the last time she had touched her Hotmail account, PDiddyPrincessNwest@hotmail, but the name was so embarrassing she had just ended up making a new email. Who knew google did emails now?

            She slammed her door shut and knocked on the door, a bit more angrily than she had planned to. Her heart was racing, she knocked again, praying that Mabel hadn’t done that really stupid thing. She knocked again, her breathing was quick and her hands shook nervously as she called out,

            “Mabel? Are you home?”

            Her car wasn’t there. So maybe she had run off.

            That idea was even scarier.

            Pacifica wiggled the doorknob, and it pushed open. She walked in, the lights were off, save for the aquarium light. The frogs had two vacation feeders at the bottom,

            “Two? Does she plan on being gone for a week?” Pacifica mumbled to herself as she searched the small living room/ kitchen for others signs of life. She found none. She walked into the bedroom, it was a mess, as usual, but no one was home. Pacifica turned off the tank light, promising the fish she would come back tonight and feed them again, but she had a girlfriend to search for.

 

 

...................................................................

 

 

            Gideon Gleeful groaned. The tall, blonde, young man rested his face in his hands,

            “You’re telling me, that I’ve got open seats in my audience?” he had lost his bumpkin accent years ago in theater school.

            “Yes Sir.” Came the response of his P.A, Candy.

            “Then give out free tickets. Bump up people to the front and fill up the house. I don’t like empty seats Candy.” She nodded, quickly running off to find random people to hold up spots.

            He was a solo artist, a travelling one-man show that was sold out at every performance. And if it wasn’t sold out, he made sure people were there to watch him perform.

            He played music, monologues, bad jokes, magic tricks, and at the end of every performance he dedicated it all to his ‘true love’, then would, cheaply, wink at a girl in the first row. People would laugh, cheer, applaud.

            And he would bow, walk back stage and stare at the newspaper clipping of the only person who had ever actually liked him. And he had ruined that, hadn’t he.

            It had taken him years to try and outgrow the crush; he had convinced himself he could love Candy. But Candy was in love with someone else, and so he had stopped wasting his time with that.

            He looked now at his tour dates and cities and sighed, Gravity Falls ‘Where It All Started!’ His agent had convinced him it was a good idea, Gideon wasn’t so sure, but he listened to her. She waltzed in now, her red plaid shirt less than professional, but that never stopped Wendy before.

            “Are you ready, Hot Shot?” she asked, placing a cup of coffee in front of him. He took a slow sip,

            “Depends, is this poison?” he asked, their usual joke.

            “Depends, you cut my pay?” she asked.

            “You’re in control of the money.” He shrugged. She smiled,

            “Then it’s not poison.” She sipped her own before taking a relaxing sigh. His was a non-fat white mocha, no whip cream, stirred not shaken. It had taken him years to lose his baby weight, and his favorite drink wasn’t going to be the reason he gained it back.

            “Candy’s grabbing-,”

            “Extra people. You start in five.”

            “I just sent her out-,”

            “She’s fast. I sent her to the local bar. She got you more than what you needed, pulled in a few chairs. You start in five.” Her red hair was pulled into a sloppy bun and the engagement ring on her finger caught Gideon by surprise,

            “What’s that?” he asked. She looked at her coffee cup,

            “A sweetened cappuccino? I don’t know what I order anymore. I just say words and it happens. I haven’t been disappointed yet.” She shrugged, taking another sip.

            “No, the ring.”

            “Oh, this?” she wiggled the ring-finger and took a swig of her drink, “It’s a temporary thing. You know these never last.”

            “Does he know that?”

            She smiled, “I’ve told him, but they never listen.” She looked at her watch, “Places.”

            He nodded, fixing his hair one last time, and coffee in hand, walked on stage to greet his screaming fans.

            Wendy sat down in his chair, placing the coffee on the table, staring at the diamond ring around her finger, she had forgotten to take it off before she had come in. She didn’t need the world to know what she was going through, who she was going through. She glanced at the poster and sighed thankfully, Gravity Falls. It would be easier there. Everything was always easier in Gravity Falls.


	7. Side Effects

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thanks for reading, as usual <3  
> If you like what you read, don't forget to kudos and comment. It means a lot to me!!!  
> I told you I would get better, still a little late, but it's here.   
> #improvement
> 
> Enjoy.

Pacifica had driven around town for hours searching for her girlfriend’s car. Then she took a turn and drove to the Mystery Shack. Seeing Mabel’s car made her heart race, why would she come all the way down here? She hated this place, she hated this place and she didn’t even know why.

Everyone else did.

            And when Mabel came back home, everyone tried to get rid of her. Send her away, tell her to go to some far away school. Her Grunkle’s even offered to pay, but she stayed. Pacifica had no idea why. In fact, Pacifica wanted to buy the Mystery Shack, renovate it, get the entire Pines family out and gone.

But they wouldn’t sell the damn place. They wouldn’t leave.

            So the mayor did what he always did, he asked that we pretended that the problem wasn’t real. But Pacifica couldn’t do that. In fact, she ended up trying to fix the only girl who was ever really nice to her. And for some stupid reason, Pacifica fell in love with her.

            She took a deep breath, and got out of her car. She looked in Mabel’s car, but there was nobody inside. No tourists littered the grounds, had they closed early? If Mabel was here, she could understand why they would do that. Their great niece never visited, despite the fact that she used to be so close. She was so family oriented… before….

            Pacifica’s chest was heavy as she knocked on the door. She could hear shuffling, but an immediate silence. She groaned and knocked again.

            “Mr. Pines, please, Mabel’s car is here. I know she is, let me in, please. I need to know that she’s safe.”

            “Please… Pacifica, go away.”

            “That does not make me feel any better about this situation. Please, let me in.”

            The door slowly opened and Stan stood with puffy, red eyes and tear stained cheeks, “It happened again.”

            Pacifica immediately remembered the blood stained room, the screaming, the young Mabel breaking down and her parents and the mayor making a deal to keep it quiet.

            “Wh-what happened again?” she managed, her voice breaking.

            “Al-,” his voice caught, but Pacifica didn’t need more than that, she pushed the door open and searched the living room and he pointed back towards the kitchen. He shut the door, and sank to the ground in defeat. She walked slowly into the kitchen, trying to prepare herself, but nothing could prepare herself for what she found there.

            Ford was sitting at the table, his head underneath his arms. But what truly caught her attention, the thing that brought her to her knees was Mabel’s sprawled out, dead body.

            “Mabel?” she felt the sob rise in her throat, and she didn’t bother to stop it.

…

 

            Gideon was asleep against the car window. Candy was on his shoulder. If they were awake they would never be so close, but Wendy wasn’t going to wake them up. They looked cute, but Candy claimed she was in a relationship.

            Wendy didn’t bother to ask questions. Both were in love, just not with each other. She focused back on the road, wondering when the next rest stop was. Gravity Falls would be on the signs in about an hour.

            “Why Gravity Falls?” asked a voice, that she wished was just in her head.

            “To see my family.”

            “Not to get rid of me?”

            “It’s only for a little bit.” Her heart still jumped in fear, when his body materialized in her front seat. She cursed at herself for being afraid of something she should have been used to,

            “I’m driving, Bill. Can’t you leave me alone for all of five minutes?”

            “You know I can’t go there.” His dark skin accentuated his blonde hair and bright yellow eyes.

            “And no one would recognize you as a human-,”

            “Alcore would.”

            Wendy refused to think about Alcore, her best friend… or what he became. She shook her head, letting the silence filling the car. Bill didn’t answer either, he just stared out the window, listening to her music.

            “We need to talk.” She finally broke the hour long silence.

            “I knew you would say that.”

            “I can’t do this anymore. You’re not getting any closer to getting Dipper back-,”

            “No, but the problem is a lot worse now.” He said simply, “He’s got his sister.”

            Wendy looked at Bill, “What?!”

            “Sshh, you’ll wake up the babies-,”

            “How does he have her? She was safe. You said they were all safe-,”

            “I can’t get that close!” he snapped, frustration building in his voice, “Alcore literally hates me. What am I supposed to do? Risk my life-,”

            “You’re risking my life.” She snapped at him, “I’m carrying my part of the deal. How about you start doing some work on yours?”

            He sighed, “Fine.” And he was gone and she sighed, her hands were trembling. Tears stung her eyes, and all she really wanted was a god damn coffee.  She was so thankful to see the Gravity Falls on the sign, but at the same time dread drowned her.

            Her home town wasn’t going to be the same and she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be changed for the better.


	8. #Teaser

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A teaser for more things to come...

 

           Mabel Pines gasped for air, sitting up as if her body was reaching for the air that was evading her lungs. Finally catching the air in gulps, blinking under the bright fluorescent lights in the white room that screamed sickness. She was in a hospital. She looked at her hands, noticing she was connected to wires and bare feet were cold, she wiggled her toes.

 

           She tried to kill herself. But… Dipper… her imaginary friend saved her? That didn’t make any sense. Death made her hallucinate a story based world that she had created when she was a child. 

 

          Paz was sitting in a chair, head tilted in her exhausted slumber. Mabel slowly, quietly, started to disconnect herself from the machinery that worked against her to keep her alive. A boy turned the corner into the room and froze. He looked like her… he looked like her imaginary friend-,

 

          “You’re Mabel.” he said blankly.

 

         “Dipper?” she asked. 

 

         He nodded, “My parents told me you were dead. Died when we were kids, something about a car crash-,”

 

        “You’re real…” Mabel pulled the last wire out and stood up, shaking slightly. He rushed to her to stabilize her, “And you’re not some sort of demon?”

 

       “My ex-girlfriends would like to disagree with that.” he said with a chuckle. Mabel laughed, then stopped, looking at Paz.

 

       “Sneak me out of here.”

 

      “Guess we really are twins, I was thinking the same thing.” He pulled a t-shirt and a pair of sweats out of his backpack. She threw them over her gown and shook her hands to get out the shakes,

 

      “Alright, we walk out of here, get some food, and I wanna’ know everything.”

 

     Dipper nodded, “Same.”

  
     And they walked out the same way Dipper came; looking for answers to questions they didn’t know they had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me start off with: IM SO SORRY.  
> Okay, now that that's out of the way, I really am sorry. So many people were reading this and I let my depression stop doing what I enjoy. So, I'm just updating my people and posting some teasers to really get back into making some fanfics. Good or bad.   
> Thanks for reading, and thanks for coming back.   
> <3


	9. Just A Dream

"So, you just kind of... go to school and there's pictures of your dead twin around the house?" Mabel asked as she took a bite out of her hamburger that was probably more plastic than meat, but fast food was cheap and fast, so she didn't complain.

 

"Yeah, sort of." he nodded, "Apparently we were both in the same car crash when we were staying up here for vacation back in middle school. You didn't make it, but I did and the folks were way too nervous to let me come back."

 

"Then why are you here?" Mabel leaned back, the fast food making her sick. 

 

"I had this dream... well, I have all sorts of dreams with you in them, like when we were kids. I don't remember much though, head injury or something. But usually in my dreams we're running through a forest, but this time..." he stopped, contemplating telling. 

 

"You already started." Mabel reminded him. He nodded,

 

"Yeah, um, this time you... you and I were these demon things. We killed people, we destroyed people. We destroyed worlds."

 

"Yeah... I guess I had the same dream... ish. It felt so... real though." Mabel shrugged.

 

"Yeah... mine too. It felt so real that I left my college dorm and flew straight here. It sounds stupid, feels stupid to leave on a dream, but you're here and alive."

 

"Mystery twins." Mabel joked, but stopped, the edges of her vision blurring, "Did you poison me?" she asked quickly, standing up, but her twin was gone. She reached out for him, but the world burned from the outside in, like a two dimensional picture. 

 

"Mizar, enjoy your dream?" Alcore was leaning over her and her smile twisted, 

 

"I wouldn't say enjoy as say I possessed an alternate me in another realm." She stood up, taking her brother's hand and he laughed,

 

"Fun, isn't? What to destroy today?" He was eager to please her, finally having her at his side. The unstoppable power of his twin completing him.

 

"Bill Cipher." 


End file.
